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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  February 19, 2013 8:00am-9:00am PST

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than close a single tax loophole for the wealthiest americans. not one. well, that's not balanced. that would be like democrats saying we have to close our deficits without any spending cuts whatsoever. it's all taxes. that's not the position democrats have taken, that's certainly not the position i've taken. it's wrong to ask the middle class to bear the full burden of deficit reduction. and that's why i will not sign a plan that harms the middle class. so now republicans in congress face a simple choice. are they willing to compromise to protect vital investments in education and health care and national security and all the jobs that depend on them? or would they rather put hundreds of thousands of jobs and our entire economy at risk just to protect a few special interest tax loopholes that
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benefit the wealthiest individuals and corporations. that's the choice. are you willing to see a bunch of first responders lose their jobs because you want to protect a special interest tax loophole? are you willing to have teachers laid off or kids not have access to head start? or deeper cuts in student loan programs? just because you want to protect a special tax interest loophole that the vast majority of americans don't benefit from. that's the choice. that's the question. and this is not an abstraction. there are people who's livelihoods are at stake, there are communities that are going to be impacted in a negative way. and i know that sometimes all this squabbling in washington seems very abstract. and in the abstract, people like the idea, you know, there must be some spending we can cut. there must be some waste out
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there absolutely is. but this isn't the right way to do it. so my door is open. i put tough cuts and reforms on the table. i am willing to work with anybody to get this job done. none of us will get 100% of what we want. but nobody should want these cuts to go through, because the last thing our families can afford right now is pain imposed unnecessarily by partisan recklessness and ideological rigidity in washington. as i said at the state of the yoib, the american people have worked too hard for too long rebuilding from one crisis to see the elected officials cause another one. and it seems every three months there's some manufactured crisis. we've got more work to do than to just try to dig ourselves out of these self-inflicted wounds. while a plan to reduce our deficit has to be part of our agenda, we also have to remember
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deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan. we learned in the 1990s when bill clinton was president nothing shrinks the deficit dpaster than a growing economy that creates good, middle class jobs. that should be our driving focus, making america a magnet for good jobs, ewinning how people with the skills required to fill those jobs. making sure their hard work leads to a decent living. those are the things we should be pushing ourselves to think about and work on every single day. that's what american people expect. that's what i'm going to work on every single day to help deliver. so i need everybody who's watches today to understand, we've got a few days, congress can do the right thing, we can avert just one more washington manufactured problem that slows our recovery and bring down our
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deficits in a balanced with, responsible way. that's my goal, that's what would do right by these first respond irs, that's what would do right by america's middle class. that's what i'm going to be working on and fighting for not just over the next few weeks, but over the next few years. thanks very much, everybody. thank you guys for your service. >> the president speak once again, restates his position, not breaking new grounds, but in effect campaigning for avoids what he calls the sequestration. these forced spending cuts that will two into effect march 1st unless congress takes specific action that he would have to then sign into law. gloria borger, john king, christine romans in new york. jessica at the white house. gloria, if this is such a horrible idea, why did the white house come up with this plan in 2011 to begin with? >> iffy noticed, wolf, the
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president kept calling this a manufactured crisis. well, in fact, it was manufactured right here in washington by the president of e united states and voted for 174 house republicans voted for these forced spending cuts to force them to do their jobs. now we're in this crazy situation in washington where publicly people are protesting, politicians saying we can't do this, but privately, there are liberal democrats who say you know what, this wouldn't be such a bad thing, cut self-defense, can and conservative republicans says 5% across the board in domestic spending, not such a bad idea. >> and talking about defense cuts, john, these are cuts only in washington language. there will be increases in defense spending every year over the next ten years. but if the so-called sequestration goes through, they won't be as huge as they would have been without it. >> right. many agencies, including the pernt are not going to get as
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much an increase. most republicans want to protect the defense department. those are wrong and want to cut defense spending. this is the president crying wolf, they say. forgives the metaphor. but government agencies will have to do what every american family has had to do, make a piece of paper, list priorities, say how much money, list them first and pay for them until you're out of money. when the president says border patrol, first responders, then agencies can shift money around, and make sure those priorities can be met. so the question is will there be a temporary fix again, se questionser, it's a fancy word for forced budget cuts, and neither the president nor the congress have done the basic job they were elected to do which is get the government with a functioning budget. if they kick in, will there be chaos, and not as much chaos, and republicans will want to cut more. >> and you have looming
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government shutdown on march 27th. republicans believe that would be much more of a pr disaster than the forced spending cuts. so you've got economic crisis coming up. >> and two political dynamics. there are a lot of democrats whoa think if the president can keep pushing the house republicans into disfavor, maybe get the house majority back and a democratic house and senate for the final two year. however, remember, and the president touched en this. he's a second term president. he wants it get things gone. he needs a stronger economy to do that. if it puts it book into pearl. even if he wins in the short-term, it could hurt his second term. >> if this is so dire, republicans are say, why hasn't he reached out to us on this? >> on a personal level -- over to the white house, go to jessica yellin and christine romans. over at the white house, i'm sure that all of the top officials, they recognize there are republicans who are willing to engage in what's called tax
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reform, eliminating some of these loopholes for big cooperations or were yilty or whatever. but they want it to be part of a big package involving entitlement reform at the same time, social security, medicare, medicaid. the president knows that if he's going to demand elimination of some of the tax breaks and loopholes, tax increases for the wealthy, the republicans aren't going to go for it. seems to be a non-starter right now. >> well, a couple of things, you're absolutely right, the republicans are willing to do tax reform and willing to close these loopholes. they want the money spent differently. the president's pushing for it because it's a negotiating tactic. he wants it his way, and he believes if he holds firm with enough forest responders by him every day, later this week with fire fighters behind men and women, next week with teachers who are going to lose their jobs
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behind him, over time the white house believes that eventually the republicans will see things the president's way and see the political light, this is the white house's perspective, and agree to do thing the white house's way. but there's something gloria mentioned, wolf, which is the outreach to capitol hill. the president said my door is open. and one of the frustrations i hear when i'm talking to sources, including this morning, is that they argue, the president hasn't made himself available. sequester is pending in ten days and they have not heard from the president, and thipt to know why. now there are democrats who are negotiating, or trying to reach out to republicans on chicago. they say there's not enough willingness to talk, but this same narrative continues and a lot of frustration from republicans that there's not enough flexibility from the white house to reach out and get something done ahead of this -- these draconian cuts that are coming, wolf.
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>> draconian cuts, i guess that's going to be a subject for debate. how draconian they are. hold on. listen to rand paul, a republican senator from kentucky the other day and his tea party response to the president's state of the union address. >> tea party people are saying, the sequester is a pittance. it's just very much even the beginning. $1 trillion and we're going to includes spending $9 trillion, so even with the sequester, spending goes up over the next ten years. we're not getting close to scratching the surface of the problem. >> christine romans, take a look at the big picture on the economy. if these forced spending cuts go into effect, as rand paul points out, this year there will with a projected cut of $89 billion on $4 trillion, what impact would it have on the economy? >> it would be a crag. the congressional budget office says you'd lose 750,000 jobs
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because of this. that's 100,000 a month between now and the end of the year. it's not the chaos on march 2nd that some would have you think it is. it's a drag on the economy overall. when you have fbi agents furloughed for 14 days, they aren't guy bying a schous a car. and than they aren't spending the way they used top longer waits for travel, and the effects that they are predicting because of the arbitrary nature of the cuts. that's halting together economy. when you look at the numbers, you're right, as rand paul says, a pittance in the overall big bucket that we're overspending, or spending more than we're taking in every day. but the point is, this is no way to run a country. this is no way to run a business or a country. you don't just lop off 9%. you do it priorities, consensus, with an eye to investing in the future. don't hurt jobs. this is who the knot what congress is doing.
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what they are doing is foregoing the day to day budget operations that they're supposed to be doing and doing brinksmanship every three months and that's not good for running a country and grow an economy. >> you're right. and as the president said at the top of the speech at the old executive office building, now the eisenhower executive office building, when they came up with the idea in 2011 of the forced mandatory spending kus, it was so unattractive, those were his words, it would force republicans and democrats and the white house to come up with a solid plan to deal with the issues. that has not happened and they will go into effect on march 1st assuming there is a failure to kick the can down the road or come up with a plan in the next ten days. we'll have much more on cnn, certainly at 4:00 p.m. in the situation room. i'm wolf blitzer in washington.
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our newsroom coverage will continue after this break with john berman. one. two. three. my credit card rewards are easy to remember with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. [ both ] 2% back on groceries. [ all ] 3% on gas. no hoops to jump through. i earn more cash back on the things i buy the most. [ woman ] it's as easy as... one! -two. -[ all ] three! [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. new griddle-melts to yourime usual breakfast sandwich. a lot more flavor. [ anouncer ] ihop's new griddle melts... made fresh and hot! hand crafted just for you. it's like a sexy sandwich. [ anouncer ] compare new griddle melts yourself. just $4.99. it's an epic breakfast sandwich.
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said he thought she was a burglar and she died in his arms. that was part of his statement read bit attorney. he was too emotional to speak. the prosecution spelled out a very different version of events, contending it was premeditated murder. robyn curnow is covering this if pretoria in south africa. set the scene, what was it like inside that courtroom? >> reporter: well, it was very claustrophobic. it was small, 60 people should have been in there, and 150 people were. it was not only small and hot, but it was sweaty. and there was a palpable sense of tension. people rial really watching oscar. and he was a lonely figure in the midst of the jostling and chaos. he often sat slumped in front of himself, his head bowed in his hands. he seemed inconsolable. particularly when reeva steenkamp's name was mentioned
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or murder. he seemed to sob, break down. at one point, i thought he was hyper ventilating. they would need medics to deal with him because he seems inconsolable, broken. there were serious charges brought against him, the magistrate saying that he couldn't rule out it was premeditated murder. buffer after the break, we heard oscar pistorius's side of the story. wesk waiting, all the rurps and speculation. this is his aft in which he spells out what he said happened that night. and the crux of is seems to be fear, a fear of crime here in south africa which is, of course, a very crime-ridden country. it filled me with fear that an intruder inside toilets. i thought they smus have gotten through the window. i did not have on my legs and i felt vulnerable. i knew i had to protect us.
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he then hobbled on his stumps, he didn't put on his legs, and he shot sbloo into this toilet door at that stage, not knowing can be not thinking she was in there. he called to reeva and told her to call the police. it took a while for him to dawn that it was her, perhaps, inside that toilet. and also these tragic dae delaware tails of how he says he tried to draekbreak down the door. he rushed her down stairs, the idea of trying to take her to hospital, but he said she died in his arms. so that is oscar's side of the story. and the prosecution, punching holes in it. they say when did he put on his prosthetic legs? this was premeditated, planned. they believe he walked into the bathroom and deliberately shot through that door. so obviously all of this playing out in the courtroom here and more tomorrow. the bail application continues then. >> all right, as you said, it
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was an emotional day and jam-packed with new information. robyn curnow in south africa. thanks for the report. meanwhile, 500 miles away from pretoria, family and friends of the killed reeva steenkamp gathered to attend her funeral in port elizabeth. her brother, adam, said, quote, there's a space missing inside all the people she knew that can not be filled again. reeva steenkamp was 29 years old. you should tune in tonight, because before oscar pistorius was charged with the murder of his girlfriend, he talked to piers morgan. see the interview and watch it at 9:00 p.m. check the news from around the world, a u.s. computer security firm claim this is building is where china's army carries out extensive hacking against the u.s. government. corporations and scores and scores of other organization around the world. china calls the report baseless,
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irresponsible, also unprofessional. in belle jam, eight bold thieves pulled off a $50 million diamond heist. they drove two cars on to the tarmac of the brussel airport and swiped the diamonds from a jet liner. it took three minutes, and lots of questions about how it may have been an inside job. she's been on the stand for more than a week, and court watchers wonder if today is the the day that jodi arias will finally testify about killing travis alexander. ♪one smile that cheers you ♪one face that lights when it nears you.♪ ♪and you will be happy too.
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in phoenix, jodi arias will be pack on the stand today in her murder trial. she's accused of stabbing, cutting and shooting her former boyfriend. she has been on the stand for six days, recounting all kinds of really se lashs details of their sex life, but she hadn't mentioned the day of the killing. joining me is beth karas from trutv, and judge glenda hack et, a television judge. so this trial has been delayed now for five days. the judge has been sick. so, beth, do you think that
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delay will have any effect? >> well, you know, it's good for the defense, i expertise, because they're still in the middle of her direct examination. if this long delay had occurred in the middle of cross examination, it's better for the state because the state would have been probably dismantling some of her story and punching holes in her credibility. it's not really a bad thing for the defense. >> we're stale still waiting for the judge so get her audio back. the testimony as we said has been incredibly graphic, lurid sexual details. do you think that will swas jury? >> there's no question there is one of the more se lashs trails i have cover. . it's now numbing the jury. i have coined the term jodi fatigue that the jurors in the courtroom are getting accustomed to this, but everyone is eager for her to get to the actual
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killing. that's what this case was about. was she justified in any way of doing what she did, a slash to the throat and shot to the head. >> we have now had six days of the lurid sexual details. the question is the defense taking too long to get to the night of the killing? >> i think they're gambling on this. but i don't know what other choice they have. they are throwing everything they can at the jury. i think they are trying to get some sympathy in here that she was really a victim in the situation. i think it's taking too long. and actually when we actually get to the day of the killing, i mean, that's when the jurors are going to be riveted. and i agree with you, i think there is just fatigue with this jury and that is dangers. >> so, dangerous for whom, it has been a slow case, what does that favor? >> i think it may favor the prosecution. they may get tired of the stories, all of these sex tapes, and i tell you on
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cross-examination, she has opened herself up. she had to take the defense, this is the defense, she has to assert self-defense. a good prosecutor will rip her apart on cross-examination is what i predict. >> tie the stories together, it's four or five years ago. >> it's a long time ago and i can't recall seeing a defendant on the stand facing so many questions for so long. >> it's a problem. >> which i don't think -- >> go ahead. >> i don't think i've seen a defendant or any witness so many days on the stand, and i've been around the court system for a long time. >> it does open it up to a world of problems. we will follow this, back in hearing for the first time in five days. reminder, you can watch the trial on hln, true tv's in session, also on cnn.com. would define you as an innovator. to hold more than one patent of this caliber...
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back, several members of congress are in havana today to press the cuban government to release a american contractor. he is serving 15 years for allegedly bringing banned satellite equipment into cuba. u.s. officials say he is suffering from chronic health problems. a new york city television anchor is in court today accused of choking his wife. he's charged with second degree strangulation and disorderly conduct. he allegedly choked his wife oefrts weekend. in california, a suspected rapist used christian mingle.com, and police are investigating the possibility of other victims. my friend miguel marquez is following the disturbing case from los angeles. >> reporter: disturbing a right there, john. this involves the case of shaun banks, a 137 vp 37-year-old
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former navy man. and back in november, he talked a woman into going to her house after meeting her on christian mingle.com, he became sexually aggressive and led to rain. he's been charged with rain, burglary, and digital penetration. what's concerning is that mr. banks has gone by several different names, several different profile on christian mingle.com. he used the name rarity the night this occurred, but rilan, and also concerning is this is an individual who has connections to several states since getting out of the navy in 2002. north carolina, south carolina, texas, colorado, virginia, and michigan he has connections to. christian mingle has -- the parent company sparks network that owns other faith-based date the sites like j-date.com have been cooperating with police.
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they helped them in tracking him down with the warrants and afts. it took two months to gets him because he had so many different names on the christian mingle site. this man was booked this past week. he pled out -- he pled not guilty and was let free on a $500,000 bond. >> that's right. he is treat right now on bail. they're investigating to see how widespread this may be. thanks very much. on their 401(k)s?!den fees go to e-trade and roll over your old 401(k)s to a new e-trade retirement account. none of them charge annual fees and all of them offer low cost investments. e-trade. less for us. more for you.
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this just in to cnn, nasa says it has lost communications, the especially space station. nasa says the station is perfectly safe and this is not an unprecedented event. officials say communication was lost around 9:45 eastern time this morning. they are trying to reestablish communication. some new information about adam lan za's possible motive in the newtown, connecticut elementary school shooting.
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he was obsessed with mass murderers. cbs news reported that lanza was driven bay desire to outdo anders breivik. he was the nor wreen wooen yan man who killed 77 people and 26 people died in the newtown shooting. mississippi has ratified the 13th amendment. you may have seen it in the film lincoln. it was the focus of the film. it led one man to see why mississippi hadn't signed on, they did sign on in 1995, but did not file the proper paperwork. now that's all cleared up. so as you may have seen, president obama is calling on congress to soften or sidestep or headoff the next fiscal deadline. the sequester, it doesn't mean much to human beings like us, forced spends cuts, cuts across
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federal agencies and departments. the fiscal cliff agreement put off the cuts until march which is just 11 days away. it is coming, medicare, medicaid, social security, troops and veterans, all that money is pretty much safe, but $85 billion will have to come out of somewhere. other programs in 2013 alone. among them, education, law enforcement, weather forecasting, food inspections, aviation safety. lines could get longer. president says there has to be a better way. >> now, if congress allows this meat claefr approach to take place, it will jeopardize our military-readiness, it will eviscerate job creating investments in energy and medical research. it won't consider whether we're cutting some bloated program that's outlived its usefulness or a vital service that americans depend on every single day, it doesn't make those dissensions. emergency responders like the
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ones who are here today, their able to help communities respond to and recover from disasters will be degraded. >> now, some republicans, especially in the tea party, including senator rand paul say that forced cuts are a pittance and even deeper cuts are needed. other fear the deep cuts on the military. i'm joined wit republican chairman of the committee. do you agree that sweeping cuts are better than no cuts at all? >> well, we have a problem. there's no question. we have a spending problem and we're spending more money thanware taking in. we're borrowing 43 cents for every dollar we spend. everybody but the president and a few democrats say that we do have a spending problem. the problem is even though defense accounts for 17, 18% of the spending, they take half of
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the savings out of the military. the troops that are over there fighting to protect our freedoms around the world are being cut, the things that they need are being cut. we've already cut $487 billion out of defense, and the sequestration that's set to start march 1st will cut another $500 billion out of defense. that's the first time i've heard the president mention defense. he's the commander in chief, he should make sure that the military has the things they need to carry out their mission and return home safely. >> defense would be cut by 13% if this goes through. where then yould tell your colleagues they need to find the savings? >> no, defense cut has been cut by 5-0 w 50%. they account for 17% of the overall spending, but they've taken 50% of the savings out of defense. >> whatever the math end, sir, again, if you would like to save
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defense spending, what would you tell your colleagues about where they should find the savings? >> excuse me. >> congressman, i don't know if you can hear me, i was asking if the savings aren't found in defense, where should they be found? >> out of the long-term forced spending, the savings that are on auto pilot. that's where we should be looking at, and that's not included in the president's discussion so far. that's the most part of where the deficit comes from. if you get rid of all discretionary spending, all of the spending the president is talking about, and all defense spend, we'll be running a deficit of a half trillion dollars a year. it comes out of the of the mand tire side that the supercommittee was supposed to address and nobody has been able to do that. if you eliminate discretionary spending we'll have a huge deficit, and that has to be part of the problem.
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>> with these spending cuts to defense and other programs, the cbo projects we're talking about 750,000 fewer jobs. how concerned are you that this could hurt our job recovery? >> there's no question of that. we held hearings over a year ago, we had five hearings that show how devastating these cuts would be to the military. and then we held one that showed how devastating it would be to our economy. and they -- the economists said it will push us right into another recession. it's more than 700, it's 2 million jobs. and it's something that -- that the president should have been much more involved in. you know, this waiting until the last minute to solve all these crisis is not a good way to run things. >> congressman mckeen, chairman of the armed services committee, thank you for being with us. a key republican house chairman
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and the president agreeing something needs to be done, but they don't agree on what needs ton done. that's the problem. a russian guy adopted by american parents has died in texas. moscow claims inhuman abuse. we'll have more coming up after this. lobsterfest is the king of all promotions.
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russia. russia's foreign ministry blames the death last month on inhuman abuse. david mattingly is following the developments for us. lay out the details. >> what we know about the boy and the parents is not much today, but we do know that the boy and his brother were both adopted and living in the same house in texas. officials there say that the buy was found unresponsive and that his mother called 911. that happened on january 21st. that was just days after his third birthday. >> what are texas and u.s. government officials saying about this case? >> well, texas officials are looking into this because they are compelled to investigate any death of a young child that is not natural or is unknown. so there was an automatic investigation that was triggers here. they call is suspicion. they could hurry this up, but
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under normal circumstances we may not have the results of the autopsy until sometime in march. in the meantime, the state department says they will always take cases of child welfare very seriously, including those cases of children adopted abroad and offered to if sill at a time any sort of communication between russian officials and officials vgt investigating this in texas. >> it's not the first time russia has accused of americans of abusing children from russia. >> since the 1990s there have been 19 russia children who have died while in the care of u.s. parents. that alone is enough to cause a problem. but on top of that, it was really inflamed back in 2010 when a u.s. mother actually flew her adopted son back to russia alone on a one way ticket, sending him back to russia because he had had some violent behavior that was causing
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problems in the home. that situation really inflamed this and actually forced official action. >> our thanks to david following this case for us. here with us to talk about the death and the dispute over the adoptions. glenda and with us here in new york, paul callan. i want to start with you. bring us up to speed. remind our viewers what's going on between russia and the united ates. because this is about more than just one kid in texas. >> well, you know, the backdrop really is a diplomatic dispute between the united states and the soviet union. the united states had enacted human rights legislation which said that russians accused of human rights violations would have trouble getting visas to the united states. russia responded by cutting off the adoption program which was very successful. i mean, thousands of poverty
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stricken russian kids were adopted and brought to the united states. russia cut that program off to punish us for accusing russia of human rights violences. >> so, judge, what's your take on the texas side of this case and what do you think is really going on there? >> i have seen too many of these cases in my courtroom. but the process is that it's simply, very quick, the texas officials will investigate it as you heard. and that is a lot involved. these are serious allegations against the parents that the child was abused. there's another layer on top of this, john, because it involves a russian adoption, and so the state department will also be monitoring this very, very carefully given the tense relationship now between the two countries and this matter of adoptions that they have now restricted. so this is going to be a complicated case that's going to be very, very closely watched
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and could be, i think, spun for some political reasons which would be very unfortunate. >> that's a great point. the state department has to be watching this closely. >> very closely. >> yeah, they are. and the real tragedy is anybody in a big city in the united states, certainly in new york knows somebody who's adopted a russian child. it's an important program, and important for the kids. you know, i was listen earlier to the talk bit russians about how bad the program is in the united states. statistical analysis, there aren't a lot of reliable statistics on adopted children, but i think it's clear that in the united states, at least, we treat our adopted kids very, very well. and i'm sure the judge would tell you that you don't see too many cases involving russian kids in texas courts. there may be domestic problems, but not adopted kids in the foreign programs. >> i'm sorry -- i think it's important to know that this has
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been a large source of adoptions in this country. it is the third largest, russia behind china and ethiopia, number three is russia. to so to your point, we've had so many successful adoptions, and this is going to impact -- >> and i think everyone agrees, whatever the international issues, everyone wants to see it investigated fully and see what happens. don't go away. up next, a persistent prisoner, a guy who's filed case after case after case, he's now caught the attention of the highest court in the land. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪ things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your citi thankyou points to travel whenever you want. visit citi.com/thankyoucards to apply.
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a few exceptions the supreme court gets to pick and choose its cases. it turns away far more than it hears. just last hour, the justices heard a case that arrived on their door steps in the form of a handwritten plea. a handwritten plea. it came from an inmate here, the federal prison in louisburg, pennsylvania. kim millbrook claims the guards sexually assaulted him in 2010. the government, they said, has sovereign immunity, end of story. the government itself, u.s. solicitor general gave the supreme court a reason to get involved. that's why i turn to my lawyer, cnn contributor paul kallen and tv judge and best-selling author, paula hatchett. this is a fascinating case.
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complicated but fascinating. it comes from a hand written letter dealing with the issue of sovereign immunity. explain to me what sovereign immunity is and why the high court was persuaded to hear this case. >> it's remarkable. the supreme court gets 10,000 applications from people who want the supreme court to hear their cases. most of them are submitted by very smart, high-paid lawyers. they get this handwritten application from the plaintiff in this case, a guy named kim millbrook and they take his case. it's an interesting case because the case involves he was sexually abused, he claims, in prison by prison guards. when he sued his case is thrown out of court on the grounds of sovereign immunity which means you can't sue the government. and that sort of doctrine has been around for a long time. the thought is it's going to increase the price of taxes and maybe we should keep government inexpensive. so you can't sue the government. in this case, the obama administration said you know
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something, if they intentionally did this to him, then he should be able to sue the government. even the justice department is taking his side before the supreme court. >> and the supreme court clearly deciding it wants a piece of this action. it wants to consider this. >> they are. they've decided to take a look at it. and i think they're trying to establish two things, that there's just available for all in this country, even people who don't have the money to hire a lawyer and have to do a handwritten petition. hasn't been done since a case called gideon versus wainright. >> judge hatchett, let me ask you this quickly. he is what is called a frequent filer, this man, kim millbrook is. he files cases again and again, usually written by hand, he's done it in every jail, every prison he's been in. how much does this tie up the legal system? as a judge how often do you see
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things like this? >> it does. it does. everybody is entitled to their day in court. it is his legal right to do t s this. i am fascinated by this case and i oom delighted, actually, that the solicitor has weighed in on this, because i think this may well be a landmark decision by the supreme court. involving this issue of sovereign immunity. i think we're going to be hearing a lot about this case going forward. but because he frequently files, he has the right to do that. and the process should go on. >> okay. again, they're hearing that case just today. we will update you when we hear more of that. just ahead, alec baldwin's run-in with a "new york post" photographer. that, coming up next. all waking up. ♪ becoming part of the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ trees will talk to networks
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will talk to scientists about climate change. cars will talk to road sensors will talk to stoplights about traffic efficiency. the ambulance will talk to patient records will talk to doctors about saving lives. it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. the next big thing? we're going to wake the world up. ♪ and watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. ♪ cisco. tomorrow starts here. britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart."
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i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. alec baldwin is certainly no stranger to controversy, especially when it comes to the media. he's accused of aiming a racial
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slur at an african-american photographer who works for "the new york post." he allegedly grabbed a reporter from the paper and said he would choke her to death. baldwin denies most of this. he calls this, quote, one of the most outrageous things i have heard in my life. baldwin also says photographer in question repeatedly bummed him, trying to bait him. the photographer is a former new york city police detective. paul kallen and glenda hatchett are back with me. both sides in this case have filed harassment claims. judge, who has the better case. >> i think the photographer has a better case in this situation, because the reporter was there. so he has a witness. i mean, the things that he said to this guy, really are outrageous. this is a guy who was on the new york police department force for some 15 years. and this just is out of hand. and baldwin is, as you said in the lead of this, is no stranger to this. as i understand it from the most recent reports, the police a